2015-10-26

MILVERTON, ONTARIO, Monday October 26, 2015: On Tuesday October 27th four time NASCAR Champion Scott Steckly will kick off the Victory Tour at St. Michaels Catholic Elementary School in Cambridge at 2:30 p.m. with a "Show & Tell" for the kids with his 520 H.P. NASCAR race car. He will also talk to them about having goals and dreams and how you can achieve them if you work hard.

Volunteers from St. Michaels and the parents will all work together to host a giant BBQ and fundraiser in the Canadian Tire parking lot at 65 Pinebrush Road, Cambridge afterwards from4:00 – 6:30 p.m. with all monies raised going to the school.

His actual winning NASCAR race car, which competes at events throughout Canada will be on site for all the students to check out and get an autographed picture from driver and four time champion Scott Steckly.

Everyone is welcome to come out and support this fundraising effort.

For more information on Scott Steckly and this Victory Tour event please contact:

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.(Oct. 26, 2015) — Consistency was the key in 2015 for Nick Heywood as he repeated as NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track champion at Airborne Park Speedway.

Heywood secured another title behind two wins, 15 top fives and 18 top 10s across 19 feature races in the J&S Steel Modified division at Airborne. It was his fourth-consecutive crown at the .4-mile asphalt oval in the Adirondack Park region of Plattsburgh, New York, and second under the NASCAR banner.

"Competition wise, we had a lot stiffer competition this year," Heywood said. "I only had two wins, but had a consistent year and only one DNF."

Heywood took home five checkered flags in 2014 to garner the Jostens National Rookie of the Year as a first-year Whelen All-American Series Division I license holder when Airborne joined the NASCAR program. This season, the native of Plattsburgh relied on regular top finishes to retain the track championship.

His two triumphs bookended the campaign as he won the opener on May 2 and the back end of a season-finale doubleheader on Sept. 5.

"We started off really strong and just stayed consistent and held our ground," Heywood said. "I think we only dropped out of the points lead once or twice, but consistency propelled us back up."

An owner/driver, Heywood piloted his No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet to a 96-point advantage in the division's final standings over Jason Durgan, despite Durgan's two more victories. With his father, Randy, serving as the team's crew chief, Heywood finished fourth in the Whelen All-American Series New York state standings and 21st nationally.

The fourth-consecutive Airborne title overall for Heywood came with some history, as it marked the first time in the track's 62-year history that a driver accomplished the feat.

"They started talking in early August about how nobody had ever done it," Heywood said. "It added a little bit of pressure. There's been some pretty big names that have come through Airborne during the years so to be the first two win four in a row feels great."

It remains to be seen whether Heywood will have an opportunity to extend the record. Airborne is currently up for sale or lease, leaving the champion unsure of his 2016 plans.

"I don't know if we're going to do any championship hunting," Heywood said. "We're probably going to do a little traveling. We're going to try Autodrome St-Eustache in Canada, and maybe try dirt racing as well."

Like Airborne, St-Eustache (Quebec) also promotes dirt-style modifieds on asphalt, which provides Heywood with a natural alternative only 90 minutes from his hometown. St-Eustache is a NASCAR-sanctioned weekly track as well.

Established in 1982, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is NASCAR's national championship program for weekly short track auto racing. In all, 58 paved and dirt tracks throughout the United States and Canada participated in 2015.

Connecticut-based Whelen Engineering is the series' title sponsor. Whelen Engineering is a leading manufacturer of automotive, aviation, industrial and emergency vehicle lighting. NASCAR tracks and pace cars are among the many showcases for Whelen products.

Airborne Park will hold its 2015 Banquet of Champions and recognize Heywood's accomplishments on Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Rainbow Wedding and Banquet Hall in Altona, New York.

Heywood will also be honored for his Airborne Park crown along with other track and state/province champions from across North America as part of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards on Dec. 11 at the Charlotte Convention Center and NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"We had a great time last year so we're going back down and have another good time I'm sure," Heywood said.

NASCAR Reaches Five-Year Sanction Agreements with National Series Tracks

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Will Visit 23 Markets in 2016;

Popular 'NASCAR Goes West' Returns for Second Year

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Oct. 26, 2015) – NASCAR today announced agreements with 23 tracks to field NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races for the next five years. Additionally, 24 tracks will host NASCAR XFINITY Series races through 2020.

NASCAR also announced its 2016 schedule for both of these national series. The schedule and actual placement of the dates within each given season's schedule beyond 2016 will be part of the on-going discussions between NASCAR and the tracks. Details are being finalized for the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule to be announced at a later time.

"NASCAR and the tracks take seriously our collective responsibility to the fans and each stakeholder to ensure the sport is healthy, strong and growing, so we can deliver great racing to the fans for many decades to come," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer. "The live event experience always will be important to creating a lifetime fan in NASCAR.

"Among the goals that we set out to accomplish with our track partners was to provide consistency for race fans and the industry stakeholders. We feel like we have a nice balance of that for 2016. The stability of five-year agreements positions us well to deliver fans with schedules as early as possible over the next several years. This is a new approach for our industry, and one that benefits everyone: fans, tracks, teams, drivers, OEMs, media and partners."

NASCAR will kick off the 2016 season against the new backdrop of a completely reimagined Daytona International Speedway. DAYTONA Rising, the speedway's $400 million redevelopment project, will be complete when both the NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series launch at Daytona Speedweeks. The 2016 DAYTONA 500 will be held on February 21 and will air live on FOX.

After the DAYTONA 500, NASCAR events will be held the following week at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Both series then will travel to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Auto Club Speedway for the return of NASCAR Goes West.

"We learned that NASCAR Goes West worked very well in keeping momentum and interest for NASCAR in these markets," O'Donnell said. "The tracks put a lot of effort behind making it successful and we think it can continue to have a positive impact as it gains traction from being an annual effort. The efficiency of conducting three consecutive events also is helpful to the teams and industry."

Among the changes to the 2016 schedule:

·Pocono Raceway will host its first NASCAR XFINITY Series event in June, with that series joining the Sprint Cup Series for a companion event at the famed three-turn track.

·The spring events at Richmond International Raceway move to a Saturday and Sunday companion event for the XFINITY Series and Sprint Cup Series, from the previous Friday and Saturday schedule.

·The first series stop at Dover International Speedway will move earlier in the schedule, to be held prior to the May events at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

·NBC will usher in its 2016 race schedule in July at Daytona with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event moving back to a Saturday evening event.

·The August Sprint Cup Series event at Michigan will move to later in the month.

About NASCAR

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States. NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™, NASCAR XFINITY Series™, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™), four regional series, one local grassroots series and three international series. The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information visit http://www.NASCAR.com and http://www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR atwww.Facebook.com/NASCAR and Twitter: @NASCAR.